The 34th London Wine Fair (formerly known as the London International Wine Fair) took place Olympia in London between the 2nd and 4th June 2014.

By all accounts, it seems the event was a great success – London Wine Fair 2014 Post Event Press Release!

We attended on the middle day – 3rd June – and definitely found it more proactively business oriented and focussed than before.  It was certainly thronging with people too.

In the short time I was there, I noticed a massive Italian presence, even more so than the Spanish it seemed.  The whole atmosphere seemed much more vibrant and worthwhile than what I saw as the “beauty pageant” of previous occasions.

I made my way over to the peripheries to talk with the smaller, independent producers and then to the “esoterica” section consisting of lots of smaller, boutique wines – and beers too, including “Brewdog” who, I have to say, I was really impressed with!

As I work with agritourism farms in the USA and have one client in Virginia whose close neighbour is an award-winning winery called “Ingleside Vineyards“. I was particularly interested in visiting the Virginia wines stand hosted by Charles Green of Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) although, sadly, this year Ingleside weren’t featured.

After that, it was time to head off back to Bristol and look forward to next year.  London Wine Fair 2015 will take place at Olympia from 18th to 20th May.